We are students in Northwestern's Medill IMC [Integrated Marketing Communications] program in a Direct and Integrated Marketing course that teaches social marketing. As a part of our assignments, we need to better establish our professional personas and begin writing blogs on key topics which concern our future professional industries. You can also follow us on twitter using the hash tag #NUSocialIMC. Enjoy!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Moms Try On A New Hat – Blogger

What television did for Jersey Shore
and the Kardashians, the Internet is doing for moms. With almost 4 million moms
and counting, mommy bloggers are the next big thing on the web, and as their
influence grows, so does the attention of companies looking for new ways to get
the all-important mom approval. Most interesting, however, is that these aren’t
just your average moms. They’re well educated, high-earning women who have
passed up lucrative job opportunities to tell the world about their
experiences. Check out some stats H&R Block collected about today’s mommy
bloggers:

·On average, they earn $14,000
more a year than their nonblogging peers

·They are 52% more likely to
have a college degree than the average mom

·They represent 14% of American
moms

And those numbers only tell part of
the story. With wide-reaching networks of followers, and affiliations with
strong blogging collectives, mommy bloggers wield buying power influence that
rivals a celebrity endorsement. Companies from McDonald’s to Kraft to P&G
are using mommy bloggers as the new advertisers; replacing generic banner ads
with interactive blogger experiences. These multibillion-dollar companies are standing
behind their products and letting bloggers write whatever they want about the free
products they’re given. Mommy bloggers have tipped the hand of power when it
comes to promoting products, and with new moms starting blogs everyday,
companies will have to continue to reach out to these networkers and community
leaders to gain traction with a target concerned about buying only the best for
their families and themselves.

The mommy blogger is no passing fad, like
the soccer mom before her, she represents a highly influential purchaser and
makes some of the most important family budget decisions. Companies can harness
this influential power by partnering
with mommy bloggers(who are notoriously picky, but endlessly loyal to a
select few companies), giving them the
freedom to write about products however they want, and letting them spread the
word about those products organically. The mommy blogger typifies the new
power consumers hold over companies. No company will be able to force mommy
bloggers into endorsing a product they don’t like or want and that’s the key to
their power – they don’t need companies, but the Fortune 500 sorely needs them.

Justin Alsop is a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC
marketing program. He’s interested in how web influencers are changing the Internet
business model and their impact on the future of e-commerce; you can find him
at @JDaneA.